The Fading of F(AI)th: Tracing the Technological Promises of a Wellbeing App in K-12 Education

This paper explores the implementation of a wellbeing app in a Swedish Upper Secondary School. The aim is to understand how ideas of data driven school improvement underpinned by promises of artificial intelligence (AI) and learning analytics (LA) change the work of teachers. The study draws on video-ethnography from 17 meetings between five teachers/form tutors. The produced data is analysed using actor-network theory to focus on the various stages of the implementation process and the interactions between the learning analytics dashboard (LAD) and the teachers. To capture the complexity of the data, the empirical material is presented through cartoon-inspired illustrations grounded in a Thinking through Cartoons methodology. Findings show how teachers took on new roles and responsibilities in relation to the wellbeing app, most notably the role of collecting data from students. Teachers came to act as data analysts which imposed constant negotiations and uncertainties. To address the declining engagement of students over time, a student-facing LAD was introduced. The teachers shifted their focus to motivate students to engage with their own data in different ways. Despite no improvements in students’ response rates teachers remained committed to the app, trusting that new AI and LA functionalities would compensate unsatisfactory outcomes. In conclusion, instead of improving teachers’ capacity to identify at-risk students, the wellbeing app increased teachers’ workload and led to different dilemmas related to teacher-student relations and teachers’ professional judgement.